Short Takes – 7-4-24

Some people have never gotten COVID-19. An obscure gene may be why. ScienceNews.com article. Pull quote: “Participants who didn’t get sick in Lindeboom’s 2021 trial fell into two buckets. Seven individuals never tested positive for the virus, while three got transient infections in their nose that their bodies quickly shut down, so they never got sick. In the former group, researchers detected widespread, but subtle, changes in immune cells called monocytes and MAIT cells. The transiently infected individuals mounted a robust immune reaction, known as an interferon response, in their noses within a day of exposure. Interferons help signal a viral threat, attracting cells that fight the infection.”

Space Force clears Blue Origin and Stoke Space to bid for fast-turnaround launches. GeekWire.com article. Pull quote: “Neither Kent-based Blue Origin nor Stoke Space has launched an orbital mission yet, but the OSP-4 program is open to emerging providers that expect to be able to send payloads to orbit within a year or so. The mission requirements aren’t typically as strict as they are for the National Security Space Launch program (for which Blue Origin became qualified last month).”

Electric Reliability Organization Performance Assessments; Withdrawal. Federal Register FERC notice. Summary: “The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is withdrawing a notice of proposed rulemaking, which proposed to amend its regulations pursuant to section 215 of the Federal Power Act to require the Commission-certified Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) to submit performance assessments every three years; to include in its performance assessment a detailed discussion of any areas of the ERO's responsibilities and activities, or a Regional Entity's delegated functions, beyond those required by the Commission's regulations, that the Commission has identified at least 90 days prior to the expected performance assessment submission date; and to formalize the method for the ERO and Regional Entities to receive and respond to recommendations by the users, owners, and operators of the Bulk-Power System, and other interested parties for improvement of the ERO's operations, activities, oversight, and procedures.”

FCC Chairwoman Calls on Agency to StrengthenSecurity of U.S. Emergency Alert Systems. FCC.gov press release. Pull quote: “In October 2022, the Commission sought comment on proposals to improve the cybersecurity of the nation’s emergency alert systems in response to various security lapses and incidents. In October 2023, the Commission and CISA co-hosted a public roundtable on alerting cybersecurity. The draft final rules, which would reduce risks to communications networks, in keeping with a whole-of-government effort to establish cybersecurity requirements to support national security and public safety, are informed by this stakeholder input. As is the general practice for items circulated for a vote, the rules would be released if adopted by the Commission”

NASA Stennis Achieves Primary Success for Historic In-Space Mission. NASA.gov press release. Pull quote: “The NASA Stennis ASL works to create safe-by-design autonomous systems. ASTRA demonstrates technology that is required by NASA and industry for upcoming space missions. The ASTRA computer on the satellite runs a digital twin of satellite systems, which detects and identifies the causes of anomalies, and autonomously generates plans to resolve those issues. Ultimately, ASTRA will demonstrate autonomous operations of LS-1.”

The Perfect Pesticide. Science.org article. Pull quote: “The prospect of the beetles evolving resistance to all available pesticides, as happened in the 1990s, still haunts the industry, says Karl Ritchie, agronomist for Walther Farms, which grows potatoes on more than 3000 hectares and was involved in trials of Calantha. “Everybody’s nervous.” For now, though, Ritchie is grateful to have another pesticide at his disposal. To help prevent resistance, he is coordinating pesticide applications with neighboring farmers; they will all spray the same pesticide one year and something else the next.”

Senate leader demands answers from CISA on Ivanti-enabled hack of sensitive systems. TheRecord.media article. Pull quote: “Grassley noted that the cyberattack led to “malicious activity” potentially compromising some of the country’s most sensitive industrial and critical infrastructure information.”